No Bullshit HYIP Blog, A Part of No Bullshit Network

Lately the hot topic has been the legality of money transmitters in the USA. The spotlight has been on CEPTrust and TriStar Money Changers (TSMC). I already reported that Trevor Reed, CEPTrust, is waiting for an answer from his new NY lawyer and that Bobby Krimm is stomping on anyone that dares to ask about the issue. PayPal, located in California, answered the licensing issue long ago by obtaining licenses in all states that requires one, as well as licensing in Canada and in the UK. (Note: MrsVee had an article a couple of weeks ago with links to two 2002 articles about PayPal, which are outdated and no longer applicable. It’s not like her to have outdated information.)

All of this got me thinking about other Payment Processors, like SolidTrustPay and AlertPay, which are located in Canada. Canadian and US justice systems support each other. Sometimes their laws are applicable to both countries. With all of the new questions about the legality of payment processors, I decided to search for an answer concerning SolidTrustPay. All that I found was the outstanding interview by Zen. (See The ZenDen interview here. Zen will be sorely missed as a blogger and interviewer!) Zen asked the legality question, but their answer only pertained to Canadian law. So, I wrote to SolidTrustPay. (Dolphin, The Dolphin’s Wink, helped me with the communication. Thanks, Dolphin!)

Here is their reply…

Good evening Sharon (and Dolphin, who forwarded your message on to me),

Finally! A nice chunk of time to be able to respond properly to your requests. We’re open until 3:00am here tonight, as Mrs. Vee’s Matrix, which is using our services, has launched and we are watching everything closely.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We are always very willing to discuss STPay, and the payment processing industry, openly, honestly and with a vision to learning more from others.

I will share with you what we have been told/researched and discovered regarding money services businesses in Canada and beyond. We are very fortunate here in Canada that, to date, there are no government regulations and that businesses providing money services fall under the umbrella of the bank they are associated with. If your business bank approves you as a customer, the company is legally registered (or incorporated) and there is one partner who has Canadian citizenship with a 51% ownership of the company AND a permanent Canadian address, then that is all you need. The residency and ownership is an interesting aside…..many countries allow you to incorporate and not have a residency or citizen ownership requirement (such as Nevada, Delaware, many European countries and of course, all the Panama, and other Caribbean countries).

In regards to the US and Europe. If you incorporate in the US and/or Europe, then you are required to be licensed in the state in which you incorporate or, for Europe, by the Financial Services Markets Act. We contaced Moneybookers via email through their merchant support address and asked whether they required US licensing for various states……they did not answer, but instead, immediately terminated our account!!! (which we had never used). That was a rather odd response, we thought!

We are incorporated solely in Canada and have indeed tried to find out if, because we supply services to US citizens, we are required to be licensed in the US. To date the answer has been no, or, we don’t know, or, why are you asking, or you’re in Canada and we don’t care. PayPal, the elephantine grandfather of all online e-wallet processors (those that allow you to maintain a balance in your account) IS incorporated in Canada, the US and Europe. They didn’t start out that way, of course, but have grown to have direct physical presences in all countries in which they are incorporated. They also have a 30% market share of all online payment processing. We do know that AlertPay is incorporated in Canada and does not have any US licensing. They are located about 5 hours away from us and we have a good relationship with them.

So to answer your question directly, from all that we have researched, a 100% owned, physically located Canadian based processor is not required to have any US licensing. On a similar note, we DO know that NO processor may offer online processing in the gambling/casino industry to US citizens, no matter where they are located. The European based processer, Net Teller openly violated this very recent US ruling by continuing to service a US based clientele. When the president and vice-president left Europe and flew on a business trip to the US, they were arrested at the airport as soon as they landed in the states. We definitely do not do any processing for adult, casino, gambling or even personals sites in order to comply with those regulations.

Our New York address is a mailing address only located in Champlain, New York…about 10 minutes south of the Canadian border. It is a convenience service for US members sending in verification documents and cheques - the mail is forwarded to us by the mail forwarding company. As it is not a permanent residential or business address, it is not considered to constitute any type of US residency. If it were to be a problem, we would simply cancel the service (no one has ever used it yet

We are very keen to provide an exceptional PayPal alternative to the many smaller programs/admins who need and wish for, an e-wallet online payment service provider. I can tell you, though, that it’s no easy task! We battle hackers, phisphing emails, fraudsters and other criminal activity constantly. I’m sure I have more white hair now than I did a year ago And it’s not a question of if, but a question of when and how. We are not daunted by such attempts, however, and continue to discover new and innovative ways to thwart them.

I think about covers it, Sharon! Please, if I have been unclear, or you have any further questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact us!

Kind regards,
Stella and Marc Hiemstra

It’s up to you to decide your own opinion of SolidTrustPay’s response. Personally, I am impressed at the lengths they went to address the legality issue. It is a testament to how they run SolidTrustPay. I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t answer absolutely, but I am satisfied that they are running legally. They also answered the legality question about AlertPay, IMO. No one knows what new laws may entangle them in the future, but for now I believe that both SolidTrustPay and AlertPay are sound.

One other interesting note about SolidTrustPay is that they run a private program. Many others have tried the combination of HYIP and payment processor and failed. I believe that they are the first to break through and succeed. One of the most important things they did was allow the members of their private program the choice of using SolidTrustPay or e-gold. They didn’t force their members to only use them, nor do they force other programs to only have one payment processor. This is similar to EBay/PayPal. Neither forces the other to use them exclusively.

JMO,
Sharon

Popularity: 8% [?]

Share This